 |
| Terentia |
Life in politics is hard, but life in ROMAN
politics is even harder, especially for a new man who wants this golden ticket
to join the ‘Roman Elite Club’. For a man to run for senator, he must possess
the total assets amounting to at least 400,000 sesterces. Could Cicero have
possessed sufficient assets to satisfy this vexing threshold? Considering that
it was imposed to keep away any potential upstart from politics and keep the
senate house ‘pure’, ‘sacred’ and readily available to a few selfish patrician
families, it is certain that Cicero,
with his equestrian background, would have no chance of entering the senate
house on his own. What was he to do then? The answer is simple enough: marry.
Marry a woman with sufficient assets to meet the threshold requirement of course!
This is where Terentia came in. In this, Cicero would not be disappointed. Terentia’s
total dowry was 400,000 sesterces, miraculously the exact amount for Cicero to
just meet the threshold and run for senator.
Terentia was born into a wealthy plebian family
by the name of Terentius, although the identity of her father is largely
unknown. She may have been a daughter of a Varro, to whom Cicero may be related
by blood. If this is the case, then this would no doubt have played a major
part in influencing his marriage to Terentia. Upon her marriage to Cicero,
Terentia received a huge dowry, which encompassed at least two blocks of
tenement apartments in Rome, a plot of woods in the suburbs of Rome, and a
large farm, which provided her family with considerable annual income. An
extremely shrewd businesswoman, she owned many lands in her own name, including
public lands and woodland property she acquired for investment.
Terentia married Cicero around 79 or 80 BC
when she was 18. Cicero was then an up-and-coming new man with a promising
career. The marriage was sine manu (literall ‘without hand’), which
means Terentia would have remained under the legal control of her father, as
opposed to a marriage cum manu (literall ‘with hand’), where a wife
would be placed under the legal control of her husband and subject to his potestas
(meaning ‘power’). Her dowry then passed to Cicero’s family, while her
private property remained under her control. This private property was managed
by Terentia with the aid of her guardian, Philotimus. She was indeed a woman of
strong personality and a great ‘mistress’ of the house, who was responsible for
managing the family affairs. She was also serious demonstrating proper piety by
making regular offerings to the gods. In addition, she was devoted to Cicero’s
friends and family just as Cicero was as evidenced when she and Cicero took
part in assisting Cicero’s brother Quintus and his wife Pomponia (sister of
Atticus) with their marriage. Terentia bore Cicero’s children, a daughter much
loved by Cicero called Tullia born in 78 BC, and a son called Marcus Tullius
Cicero Minor born in 65 BC.
58 BC is the lowest point of Cicero’s life,
when he was exiled from Rome for executing Roman citizens who took part in the
Catiline conspiracy without any trial. This exile was brought about through the
enactment of a bill proposed by Cicero’s bitter enemy, Publius Clodius Pulcher,
whom Terentia was allegedly nagging Cicero to prosecute for sacrilege. Upon his exile, Terentia was left in charge of
the affairs of Cicero, concerning his houses, villas, money, slaves, the
upbringing of their children, and the welfare of the household. In this,
Terentia found her role greatly changed as she no longer lived in Cicero’s
shadow and was allowed to act on her own and on Cicero’s behalf in the public
sphere. Exile had indeed brought with it
a dramatic shift in the gender role, with Terentia and Tullia now protesting
the exile publicly, wearing their hair unkempt and putting on black mourning
clothes. This effort on her part signifies her great devotion to Cicero’s cause,
given that his exile would have legally ended their marriage.
Given Cicero’s precarious position at the
time of his exile, Terentia would have been facing enormous hardships advocating
for her husband’s return. Yet she pressed on! Even when their house on the
Palatine Hill was burnt down by Clodius’ mob, she was not cowed and took refuge
with the Vestal Virgins. Her relentless courage and fortitude were almost
unparalleled, and this was commended by Cicero by numerous affectionate letters
to his wife during his exile. In them, he expressed gratitude to Terentia for
rallying his friends to his cause, and admitted that his return truly depended
on her effort to push on no matter how the political climate was unfavourable.
In the end, with the rallying of his friends and his wife, the most fervent
activist, Cicero was able to return home at last in 57 BC.
However, in the remainder of 49 and much of
48 BC, Cicero became displeased with the way his wife was managing the
financial affairs and he was especially critical of Philotimus' work. In one of
his letters, he was indicating that Terentia was someone ‘he has trusted too
much’. This estrangement surely stemmed from their time apart and the strained
atmosphere of the civil war as Caesar was preparing his conquest of Italy. Their
letters now became increasingly emotionless and reserved. The strain on their
marriage finally led to divorce in 47 or 46 BC, when Terentia was around 52. According
to Hieronymus Stridonensis, she later remarried two times, her second husband
being the historian Sallust and her third the writer and general Marcus
Valerius Messala Corvinus, although this is not confirmed and cannot be historically
proven. She outlived Cicero by several years to live to a ripe old age of 103
years dying in 6 AD.
In all, Cicero and Terentia’s marriage was a
loving and mutually beneficial one (especially for Cicero!). Terentia’s
economic independence, her business shrewdness, foresight and devotion to her
husband would no doubt have placed her among the prominent women of ages past
like Lucretia and Cloelia. Their relationship has been tried and tested to a
breaking point. This is not uncommon for Roman couples where men engaged in
treacherous politics. In the end, this is the risk that the Roman couples themselves
must embrace.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น